Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-90-122-L2073: Technical Assistance to San Francisco General Hospital and Medical Center; San Francisco, California

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-90-122-L2073: San Francisco General Hospital and Medical Center, San Francisco, California 94110
• Personal Author:
  Moss, C. Eugene ; Seitz, Teresa A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Director of the Environmental Health and Safety Department of the San Francisco General Hospital and Medical Center, located in San Francisco, California, an evaluation was undertaken of possible hazardous working conditions at that site. Concern existed about exposures to hazards while operating the germicidal lamp at this facility. Germicidal lamps were used to disinfect the air in tuberculosis and aerosolized pentamidine clinics. The workers wore no protective eye wear. All rooms used a 30-watt germicidal lamp. Lower wattage bulbs in the smaller rooms would have reduced occupational ultraviolet (UV) exposure. Reflectance levels of UV radiation were quite high and varied. Worker exposure to germicidal lamp UV levels was dependent on many factors, some of the most important ones being the position of the bulb in the room, age of the bulb, obstruction of the UV radiation by objects near the bulb, and the height of the worker. While there are no consensus guidelines available on ventilation systems designed for areas where germicidal lamps are used, the provision of good room air distribution and mixing is recommended to prevent stagnant air conditions or short circuiting of supply air within the room. Bulb changers need to be aware of the need for protective clothing and gloves for protection from both the UV radiation levels as well as possible glass breakage.
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Occupational Health Radiation Safety Ultraviolet Rays Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Hazards-Confirmed Health-care-personnel HETA-90-122-L2073 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 9 Radiation-exposure Ultraviolet-radiation Ventilation-equipment
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA90122L2073
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  20 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00196937
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91-169359
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, Ohio: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 90-122-L2073, 1990 Oct ; :1-21
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:20cd896dcb6ab4241255a3ecaa15903812abcc64d4655f1801a35b1475d84e009b149f2c9b494e0f7130833ae5e16b0b7a755ef5532c55588522e8be287602ed
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171706/cdc_171706_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.84 MB ]